BART Officer Admits Oscar Grant Posed No Threat

The commanding officer on the Fruitvale BART platform the night Oscar Grant III was shot in the back and killed by another officer said Wednesday the 22-year-old victim posed no threat to either him or others seconds before he was killed.

The admission, by Officer Anthony Pirone, came during the sixth day of testimony in the preliminary hearing of former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, accused of murder in the killing of Grant on Jan. 1.

Pirone agreed with the prosecutor that the position Grant was in just seconds before he was shot made it virtually impossible for the Hayward resident to grab and use a weapon against officers even if he had one.

“I didn’t see the hands, so I didn’t see a threat,” Pirone said. “It didn’t pose a threat to me “… or any other officer.”